By Grand-Am Rolex Series

Scott Pruett loves winning close finishes. One race after scoring the closest finish in the history of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, Pruett beat Darren Law to the stripe by .341 seconds to win the Porsche 250, the fourth-closest finish in the Daytona Prototype division.

As a result, Pruett and Memo Rojas won their sixth triumph of 2008 in the No. 01 Lexus Riley, extending their lead in the Daytona Prototype championship to 60 points over Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty, who retired the No. 99 Pontiac Riley with clutch problems.

Pruett prevailed on a hot and humid day, with 102-degree temperatures taking their toll on both participants and machinery.

"All the alarms were on today - the oil temp, water temp - and you just had to ignore it all," said Pruett, who extended his Rolex Series record to 20 career victories. "Everything was overheating, including the drivers. We just took it to the checkered flag."

Law and David Donohue scored their third runner-up finish in the last four races sharing the No. 58 Porsche Riley. It was their fifth consecutive top-five finish.

Pruett was the lone race leader to finish in the top 10. Six other cars led the event, but all of them finished outside of the top 10.

Ricardo Zonta and Nic Jonsson, Guy Cosmo and co-driver Marc-Antoine Camirand, Brad Jaeger and co-driver Memo Gidley, Joey Hand and Bill Auberlen, Gurney and Mark Wilkins where of those.

Law made a challenge in the closing laps, running side-by-side through Turn 6. Pruett maintained the lead, and then held off Law's final challenge on the three-lap sprint following the final caution for Gurney's problem.

Ian James and John Pew finished third in the No. 6 Ford Riley, followed by Michael Shank Racing teammates Oswaldo Negri and Mark Patterson in the No. 60.

Frisselle and Ricky Taylor placed fifth in the No. 47 Doran Racing Ford Dallara, followed by the pole-winning No. 10 Pontiac Dallara of Canadian Michael Valiante and Max Angelelli.

GT
In GT, Nick Ham passed Robin Liddell eight laps from the checkered flag to score the third victory for the No. 70 Mazda RX-8 he shared with Sylvain Tremblay.

Bryce Miller and Dirk Werner finished second for the second straight race in the No. 87 Porsche GT3, gaining two positions in the closing laps. Andy Lally and Tim George Jr. finished third in the TRG Porsche GT3.

Liddell led a race-high 55 laps in the No. 57 Pontiac GXP.R started by Andrew Davis. He was passed for the lead following the penultimate restart, and then fell to fourth after the final caution to finish fourth.

The race was slowed by five cautions for 18 laps, with Pruett and Rojas averaging 85.694 mph.

The next race for the Grand-Am Rolex Series will be August 1 at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Race Results - Porsche 250, Mid-Ohio:

POS NO. CLASS CLASS.POS. DRIVER TEAM/CAR LAPS BEST.LAP (#)
1 01 DP 1 Pruett / Rojas Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates / Lexus Riley 103 1:22.562 84
2 58 DP 2 Donohue / Law Brumos Racing / Porsche Riley 103 1:22.619 84
3 6 DP 3 James / Pew Michael Shank Racing / Ford Riley 103 1:22.780 70